Wishlist

New stuff to spend your hard-earned cash on this month

Birding-related goodies this month include fleeces, bird food and towels

BUBEL, BEACH TOWEL £40

Four times more absorbent than a normal towel, this full-size beach towel is also compact enough to pack down to be fitted easily into a camera bag or day-sack. It’s quick-drying, too, and made from environmentally-friendly materials, and antibacterial treatment ensures that it stays clean as well as you. It comes in a wide range of colourful and eye-catching designs. Perfect if you’re combining your birding with camping, or having to rough it on a birdwatching expedition overseas. bubelbarcelona.com

HAGLÖFS L.I.M PROOF JACKET, £130

A ‘sustainable jacket for unreliable weather’. It’s minimalist, windproof, waterproof, lightweight, packable, and has very good breathability. One to shove in the bag for unpredictable days in the field. The L.I.M Proof is made from fluorocarbon free fabric, has an elasticated, peaked hood, no shoulder, side or inner sleeve seams, one zip-up chest pocket and a dropped rear hem. The most birder-friendly colours offered are blue ink, true black, and for men, beluga. www.haglofs.com

BIRD GRANOLA, £5.99 FOR 1KG

Granola for birds – but it can be served up at any time of day, and any time of year. This energy-rich concoction is loaded with dried mealworms, millet, rapeseed and oats. That sounds delicious enough, but to make it even harder to resist it’s coated in yummy suet! Suitable for ground feeding or spreading on the bird table. But don’t mix it up with your own breakfast cereals. shopping.rspb.org.uk

MAULEY MEDIA BEE ID APP, £5.99

This app is based on a database of 91 forms of the UK’S 25 bumblebee species. It uses 14 different bee features to reduce your options and help you put the right name to that bee. This approach means that even an imperfect view could be enough for a positive ID. It has photos and descriptions, and can record what you’ve seen, and where and when. For IOS devices. 207MB. Needs IOS 9.0 or later. Available from the Apple App Store.

KITE CAIMAN BINOCULARS, £249

The Caimans are new entry-level bins from Kite, a Belgian brand, with an 8x42 and a 10x42 in the range. With ‘excellent colour balance’ and ‘a bright and sharp image’ the Caimans have a 132m/105m field of view, focus down to 1.5/1.8m and have 17/15mm of eye relief respectively. Full focus travel is 1.5 turns of the wheel. The chassis and removable eyecups are aluminium, and each model weighs just under 700g. There’s a 15-year warranty, too. kiteoptics.com

TOM CRIDLAND 30 YEAR T-SHIRT/SWEATSHIRT, £45/£65 OR £95

So, you’ve got the ethical underwear. Now for the T-shirt or sweatshirt. Tom Cridland 30 year T-shirts and Sweatshirts are handmade in luxury Italian cotton, and available in a range of colours all with a 30-year guarantee. Clothing that really lasts – that’s good ethics. The price tag is hefty but spread it over 30 years and they become good value. T-shirts in XS-XXXXL, Sweatshirts S-XXXXL. Just make sure it’s a colour you really like… tomcridland.com

ECHO METER TOUCH 2 BAT DETECTOR, £199 AT NHBS

Bat detectors have come on a bit… This one plugs in to your ipad, iphone or ipod Touch. Then you can hear, record, and identify bat calls in real time, and view colour sonograms. If your device does GPS it will note the location, too. You’ll need the Echo Meter Touch App as well but that’s a free download. Just what you always wanted a bat detector to do! Available from the website below, there’s compatibility info there, too. nhbs.com

ALPKIT GRIFFON HOODED MID-LAYER FLEECE, £35

Look cool but stay warm in the Griffon. This mid-layer provides plenty of warmth but is packable and doesn’t weigh too much. A soft grid on the rear of the fabric feels good and traps air. But when things warm up, the thin fabric draws out excess heat better than normal fleece. Athletic fit, snug hood, thumb-loops, full length zip, a zip-up chest pocket and two-tone fabric. Available in ‘forest’ and ‘steel’ for men, S-XXL, and ‘forest’ and ‘vino’ for women, size 8-16. 97% polyester. alpkit.com

LAOWA 7.5MM F2 MICRO FOUR THIRDS LENS, £499

If you’re a Panasonic/olympus CSC user, and want a really wide-angle lens then read on. This manual focus f2 lens has a 110° angle of view – great for capturing big, wide landscapes. It weighs just 170g, is 55mm long, focusses down to 12cm, and has an aluminium body and chromium mount. It’s a rectilinear lens – so straight lines should have minimal distortion. Supplied with a metal, petal lens hood. laowalens.co.uk